FILE – In this April 18, 2008, file photo, NBA Commissioner David Stern smiles as he speaks during a news conference following a meeting of the NBA Board of Governors in New York. He is not in the Hall of Fame, he never played in an All-Star game and he is about a foot shorter than most NBA stars. But try to find an NBA legacy more lasting than Stern’s, who is retiring Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014 after exactly 30 years on the job. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)

“He left the league in a better place than he found it three decades ago,” the retiring NBA commissioner humbly said of himself in the third-person during an interview clip that aired Friday on ESPN, a longtime business partner of his and the league’s.

If bigger means “better” — expanding from 23 to 30 teams, watching the average salary balloon from $290,000 to $5.7 million, even a 50 percent increase on referees asked to be on the court at one time (going from two to three, and including women employees) — then a kindergartner forced to sit in a televised round-table discussion for commercial purposes might even agree with that concept.

But will the Orwellian move in the summer of 1984 to double the number of teams in L.A. from one to two remain a long-lasting mark on Stern’s good side?

In all the lists we’ve seen recently of Stern’s “accomplishments” during his reign, the Clippers’ relocation from San Diego to L.A. is near the top — because, most likely, these lists are in chronological order, and it happened to take place just months after Stern took over.

Funny, but many may forget that Stern and the NBA actually sued to keep the Clippers (and Bill Walton) in San Diego. They lost that court battle.

So it was our gain? Thanks for the effort.

Thirty years later, if we’re still hung up on trying to define how this Stern halo effect has bedeviled L.A. pro hoops, perhaps we’re more apt to frame it this way:

If and when the Lakers decide their power of attorney can write some habeas corpus and go e pluribus unum all over new NBA chief Adam Silver, and if and when they are able to convince him that the egregious nature of her predecessor nixing the Chris Paul trade three years ago clearly put them in this media-induced coma with no real way of recovering unless they were granted the top three draft picks this summer as some sort of compensation, maybe that would go a long way into how we care to rewrite history?

* This new marketing campaign that the Dodgers have just rolled out — “Live. Breathe. Blue.” — won’t be misconstrued as a Viagra endorsement?

* According to RJ Bell of Pregame.com, Nevada has kept specific accounting of its Super Bowl betting action for the last 23 years. During that time, Las Vegas has won money 21 times; the bettors have won only twice.

And you’ve still got a system that’s going to beat those odds?

* If the city of Inglewood was so peeved that it voted down the attempt of a Wal-Mart super store popping up in that parking lot between the Forum and the now departed Hollywood Park, what makes you think its citizenry wouldn’t be equally litigious if billionaire Stan Kroenke tries to erect his own NFL stadium for the Rams’ return to L.A. on the same piece of asphalt he just bought at a Wal-Mart-type bargain price? Because they’d be sold on it as a “job-creating” move that will revitalize the local street bootleg T-shirt sales and ticket scalping economy?

Editor’s note: An increase of referees asked to be on the court at one time, from two to three, is 50 percent. This information was incorrect in an earlier version of this article. This article has been updated with the correct information.

Tom Hoffarth is a freelancer. He had been with the Daily News/Southern California News Group since 1992 as a general assignment sports reporter, columnist and specialist in the sports media. He has been honored by the Associated Press for sports columnists and honored by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association for his career work. His favorite sportscaster of all time: Vin Scully, for professional and personal reasons. He considers watching Zenyatta win the Breeders' Cup 2009 Classic to be the most memorable sporting event he has covered in his career. Go figure that.